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| SCIENTIFIC
CLASSIFICATION |
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| COMMON
NAME: |
Thomson's
gazelle, Tommie |
| KINGDOM: |
Animalia |
| PHYLUM: |
Chordata |
| CLASS: |
Mammalia |
| ORDER: |
Artiodactyla |
| FAMILY: |
Bovidae |
| GENUS
SPECIES: |
Gazella
(deer-like) thomsoni (scientific explorer) |
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| DESCRIPTION: |
The
Thomson's gazelle is a small gazelle with a white
belly, a white rump patch that extends up to the
tail, and a horizontal black side stripe. |
| MALE |
Males
have ridged horns. |
| FEMALE |
Females
have short and more often broken or deformed horns. |
|
| SIZE: |
|
| MALE |
58-70
cm (23-28 in.) |
| FEMALE |
58-64
cm (23-25 in.) |
|
| WEIGHT: |
|
| MALE |
17-29
kg (37-64 lb.) |
| FEMALE |
13-24
kg (29-53 lb.) |
|
| DIET: |
Grazers
and browsers - includes shrubs and green grass |
|
| GESTATION: |
Female
Thomson's gazelles usually give birth to a single
calf after a gestation period of 5.5-6 months. The
calves remain hidden away from the mothers for a
few weeks, with the mothers returning only to nurse.
If food supplies are good, a female may conceive
again within a couple of weeks of giving birth.
Births take place year-round. |
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| SEXUAL
MATURITY: |
Approximately
19-21 months |
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| RANGE: |
Kenya
and Tanzania |
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| HABITAT: |
Inhabits
grass plains |
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| POPULATION: |
GLOBAL |
Unknown |
|
| STATUS: |
IUCN |
Lower
Risk/Conservation Dependent |
| CITES |
Not
listed |
| USFWS |
Not
listed |
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| 1. |
Thomson's
gazelles (called Tommies) live in buck or doe
herds of up to 100 individuals, or mixed groups
of up to 700.
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| 2. |
Thomson's
gazelle, or Tommies are one of the three migratory
species that make up the vast Serengeti migration.
Like the zebra and the wildebeest, there may be
in excess of 500,000 Tommies in the migration. |
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| 3. |
Tommies
are easily identified by their tail motion - it
swings side to side like a windshield wiper! |
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| 4. |
By
eating the greenest grasses, Tommies get all the
water they need during the rainy season, but migrate
to find drinking water during dry periods. |
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| Thomson's
gazelles are an important food source for many predators,
especially cheetahs and Cape hunting dogs. Predation
on Tommies is always high; they are regular meals
for lions, hyenas, wild dogs, and jackals. Smaller
predators such as pythons and birds of prey will
also eat the calves.
While most small gazelles are in decline, the
Tommies' population is stable.
These
animals are probably the most common and most
commonly seen small gazelle in eastern Africa.
Even though they are extremely common they have
a fairly restricted range, being found on the
open, shortgrass plains of Sudan, Kenya, and Tanzania.
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|
|
|
Estes, R.D. The Safari Companion: A Guide to
Watching African Mammals. Vermont: Chelsea Green
Publishing Co., 1993. |
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| Gotch,
A.F. Mammals-Their Latin Names Explained.
Poole, U.K.: Blandford Press Btd., 1979. |
| |
|
Nowak,
R. (ed.). Walkers Mammals of the World. Vol.
II, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press,
1991.
|
| |
| Parker,
S.P. (ed.). Grizmek's Encyclopedia of Mammals:
Vol. 5. New York: McGraw Hill Pub. Co., 1990. |
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